Self-contained, speed-varying countershaft unit



April 17, 1951 P. B. REEVES SELF CONTAINED, SPEED-VARYING COUNTEBSHAFT UNIT Filed Oct. 24, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April l'Z, 1951 P. B. REEVES 2,549,637

SELF coummzn, SPEED-VARYING COUNTERSHAFT UNIT Filed Oct. 24, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 RAUL E EE'Ez/Ab,

A TTOHNE'Y' Patented Apr. 17, 1 951' UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE I .j V I t 7 2,549,637

SELF-CONTAINED, SPEED-VARYING I COUNTERSHAFT UNIT. Paul 'B.- Reeves, Columbus,- Ind; assignor to Reeves Pulley Company, Columbus, Ind., a cor poration of Indiana Application October 24, 1949, Serial No. 123,171

Claims. (01. 74-230.17

. 1 The present invention relates to a self-contained, speed-varying countershaft unit. The primary object of the invention is to provide a compact, unitary structure, entirely self contained so that it is not dependent, for its operation, upon elements with which it is to be associated, which can be manufactured and sold for immediate and unskilled installation between a machine to be driven and a power source, the unit being of such character that, when so installed, it can be operated to vary,,steplessly, the speedratio between such power source and such machine. A further object of the invention is to provide a unit of the character described in which, very inexpensively and very compactly, means is provided for stepless adjustment of that element of. the unit which produces the desired speed variation.

. Further objects of the invention will appearv as the description'proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention maybe embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attenti'onbeing called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of g the appended claims is not violated.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a unit constructed in accordance with my invention, shown in operative association with conventionally illustrated power means and driven means;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section ta-ken substantially on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation with parts shown in section, substantially as indicated by the line 3, 3 of Fig. 2. fReferring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that my unit comprises a base, indicated generally by the reference numeral l U, and including a foot H which is preferably provided with elongated openings I2 and I3 therethrough for the reception'of means for fastening the base to a suitable bed or foundation. Upstanding from the foot'l l, I have provided a pair of parallel side walls l4 and I5 joined or spanned by a curved top wall I 6, as most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, to define a chamber C, open at its front end, as at I'Lbut otherwise closed, except that said chamber'may, if desired, open also through the foot ll.

Near the root of the opening H, the base is 2 projects at its opposite ends beyond said bearing to .provide trunnion means for a lever 29. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, said lever is provided at its lower end with furcations 2| and 22' which are respectively supported upon the opposite ends of the pin 19. The upper end of the lever is preferably webbed, as at 23, and, in an intermediate region, theweb is preferably thickened to providea pad area. 24 for a purpose later to become apparent. I

At its upper, or free, end, the lever is formed to provide a transverse bearing 25 formed with a bore 26 therethrough disposed upon an axis par allel with the axis of the pin l9; and a'dual V-pulley assembly, indicated generally by the reference numeral 21, .is supported upon said free end of the lever 20. This dual V-pulley assembly may preferably,v but not necessarily, be constructed in accordance with the disclosure of my copending application Serial Number 94, 094, filed May 19, 1949, for Multiple Expansible Pulley Unit.

As shown, it comprises a shaft 28 journalled in the bore 26 of the bearing 25 and arranged therein for axial floating movement. One end of the shaft carries a ring washer 29 or other suitable means for limiting the axial movement of said shaft in one direction by engagement with the bearing 25; while the other end of the shaft carries, outboard with respect to the bearing 25, a

plurality of coned disc elements cooperating to provide a dual V-pulley. As shown, a coned disc 30 is fixed to the shaft near the bearing 25 with its coned face directed away from said bearing, and a second coned disc 3! is fixed to the shaft at its end remote from the bearing 25, with its coned face directed toward the bearing 25. Supported on the shaft 28 for axial floating movement relative thereto, and between the discs 30 and 3'l, is a double coned disc element 32 having one coned face 33 presented toward the coned face of the disc 38 and an opposite coned face 35 presented toward the disc Si. The disc 32 thus cooperates with the disc 36 toprovide a variableeffective-diameter V-pulley frictionally receiving v-pulley frictionally engaging an edge-active belt- 1'36. Obviously, when the parts are in the posiinthe illustrated embodiment of the invention,

tions illustrated in the drawingathe effective, diameter of the pulley engaging thebelt 34 is a maximum, \vhilethe effective diameter of the pulley engaging the belt 381s a-minimum. Move:-

ment of the disc 32 toward the right as Viewed in Fig. 3 will decrease the effective diameter of the former and will correspondingly increase the effective diameter of the latter,

A coiled spring 3? is disposed in the chamber C, one end thereof being anchored upon a pin 38 projecting into said chamber through a perforation 38. Said spring projects through the opening 2?, and its opposite end anchored upon a pin iii which, in the iilustrated embodiment of the invention, spans said opening and has its opposite ends lcdgedin sockets and ,3 forme'din the forward or outer face of the lever 2t. The effect of the spring 37, thus, is to urge the lever toward its illustrated position in which the pad 2 engages an abutment t4 provided at the upper end of the base [8. I

A threaded bore as is formed in the abutment 24 upon an axis transverse to the axis of the pin 59 but in a horizontal plane above the horizontal plane containing the axis of said journal pin. A screw 45 is threadedly mounted in said bore '55, and is provided, at one end, with a rounded nose l! adapted to engage the pad 2 of the lever 28. A hand wheel 38 is fixed to the opposite end of said screw to facilitate rotation thereof; and preferably a pair of nuts 48 will be mounted on said screw to act as stop means to limit the degree of adjustment of said screw toward the right as viewed in Fig. 2.

It will be seen that rotation of the hand wheel 18 in one direction will shift the screw 36 toward the right to force the lever 25 to swing, against the tendency of the spring 3?, in a clockwise direction; while rotation of the hand wheel as in the opposite direction will retract said screw, permitting the spring 3? to return the lever 28 toward, and ultimately into, engagement with. the abutment 44. Said abutment limits counterclockwise swing of the lever 26, while the nuts 39 adjustably limit clockwise swing of said lever. It will also be perceived that the speed-varying unit thus described is completely self-contained, and that all operative adjustments thereof are entirely independent of any device with which such unit may be associated for operation.

The unit of the present invention is intended to be mounted between a power source and a machine to be driven, to transmit power from said source, within infinite speed variation within its range, to the driven element. As shown in Fig. l, the unit is so mounted between a power source such as a motor 5: and a unit such as a shaft 53 to be driven. The belt 34 is trained over a pulley 58 on the motor spindle, while the belt 36 is trained over a pulley 52 on the shaft 53. It will be seen that the median planes of the V-pulleys 5D and 52 are slightly offset from each other so that the belts 34 and 38 will be straight when the power transmission unit is properly located.

The position of the transmission unit, relative to the motor spindle and the shaft 53, and the lengths of the belts 34 and 36 will prefer-ably be such that, when the pad Ed is in contact with the abutment 35, the disc 32 will be in its illustrated position, so that'the efiective diameter of the variable pulley engaging the belt 34 will be a maximum, and the effective diameter of the variable pulley'engaging the-belt will be .a minimum. Now, if the motor 5! is energized, the shaft 53 will be driven at a speed less than that of the motor pulley 50.

If, now, during operation of the assembly, the hand wheel as is rotated to shift the screw toward the right, the screw nose ll will engage the pad 24 to swing the shaft in a clockwise direction. Thereby, the belt 34 will be pulled more asi es? the shaft 53.

' 28 will drift toward t1 e left, relative to the beardeeply into the V groove between the discs 30 and 32 to shift the disc 32 toward the right as viewed in Fig. 3. Concurrently, such movement of the lever 2! will reduce the distance between the shaft 28 and the shaft 53, thereby permitting the moving disc 32 to squeeze the belt 36 outwardly between the discs 32 and 3!. Thus, the effective diameter of the pulleyengagingthe belt 3 will be steplessly reduced, while the effective diameter of the pulley engaging the belt 35 will be steplessly increased, to increase the speed of As the lever is so moved, the shaft ing 25, as'viewed in 3, to maintain the alignment of the belts 3 3 and 35.

Obviously, if the hand wheel idis now rotated in the opposite direction to retract the screw 46, the spring 37 will swing the lever 29 in a counterclockwise direction, thus forcing the belt 36 more deeply between the discs 3! and 3Z, 'forcing the disc 32 to move toward the left as viewed in Fig. 3 to squeeze the belt 3d outwardly between the discs 32 and 3G, and the shaft 28 will drift toward the right to maintain be t alignment.

I claim as my invention:

1. A self-contained speed-varying power transmission countershaft unit comprising a base including walls defining a chamber, journal means provided on said base near an end of said chamher, a lever oscillably mounted on said journal means and projecting away from said base, a dual V-pulley assembly supported at the free end of said'lever, a spring substantially housed within said chamber and operatively engaging said lever and said base to restrain said lever resiliently against movement in one direction about the axis of said journal means, said base being provided with a threaded bore whose. axis is remote from said journal means and transversely disposed relative to the axis of said journal means, and a screw threadedly mounted in said bore and engageable with said lever to swing the same in opposition to the resistance of said spring.

2. A self-contained speed-varying power transmission co'untershaft unit comprising a base including foot means and wall means upstanding from said foot means and providing abutment means remote from said foot means, journal means adjacent said foot means near one end thereof, lever means oscillably supported on said journal means and projecting toward said abutment means, a dual V-pulley assembly supported at the free end of said lever beyond said abutment means, a coiled spring having one end anchored on said base near the other end of said foot means and having its other end anchored on said lever at a point removed from said journal means toward said abutment means, said spring resiliently tending to hold said lever in contact with said abutment means, said base being provided with a threaded bore Whose axis is remote from said journal means and transversely disposed relative to the axis of said journal means, and a screw threadedly mounted in said bore and engageable with said lever to swing the same in 0pposition to the resistance of said spring.

3. A self-containedspeed-varying power transmission countershaft unit comprising a housing including a pair of upstanding, longitudinallyextendihg walls and a top wall. joining said firstnamed walls to define a chamber having an opening at one end, transversely extending trunnion means carried on said base adjacent the bottom of said opening, lever means oscillably supported on said trunnion means, a coiled spring having one end anchored within said chamber, extending through said opening, and having its other end anchored on said lever means intermediate the ends thereof, a dual V-pulley assembly supported at the free end of said lever, abutment means provided by said housing above said opening, and screw means located upon an axis disposed in the plane of oscillation of said lever means and operatively engaging said housing and said lever means, said spring resiliently urging said lever means toward engagement with said abutment means and said screw means being operable to swing said lever means in opposition to the tendency of said spring.

4. The unit of claim 3 in which said screw means is threadedly mounted in a threaded bore in said housing and has a one-way push engagement with said lever means.

The unit of claim 3 in which said V-pulley assembly comprises a shaft journalled in said lever means upon an axis parallel with the axis of said trunnion means, a coned disc fixed to said shaft, a second coned disc fixed to said shaft in facing relation to said first-named disc, and a REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Date Number Name 7 Re. 22,875 Grimm May 6, 1947 814,060 Low Mar. 6, 1906 2,198,471 Benson Apr. 23, 1940 2,201,600 Waltz May 21, 1940 2,235,122 Shaw Mar. 18, 194:1 2,395,625 Heyer Feb. 26, 1946 

